JOIN US“Praveen Kumar underwent a scan yesterday (November 28) evening, and was found to have a fractured rib, as per the report that came through today,” the BCCI stated in a release.
“He is expected to recover in 5-6 weeks, and has therefore been ruled out of the ODI series against the West Indies, as well as the Test series in Australia that follows,” it further said.
A BCCI release on Monday had said that Praveen was suffering from a blunt chest on the left side, and would be unavailable for three one-dayers against the West Indies while drafting in Karnataka’s Abhimanyu Mithun as his replacement. But a day later, the authorities released a contradicting statement about the injury that has now turned into a rib fracture, adding another chapter to the mysterious nature of a player’s injury.
It’s understood that the selectors didn’t have any fitness update on Praveen when they selected him for the West Indies series and for the tour of Australia, and the selectors are within their right to draft in a player if there’s no adverse fitness report on the day of the selection.
In fact, the selectors were taken aback when BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale called Krishnamachari Srikkanth, chairman of selectors, on Sunday and asked to keep a replacement for Praveen ready.
Even stand-in Indian skipper Virender Sehwag was under the impression that Praveen would come back for the second one-dayer in Visakhapatnam. “He’s suffering from some niggle, but he will be available for the second ODI,” he had said on Monday.